Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant on Thursday said the future of courts lies in blending innovation with human values while emphasising that technology must serve the people and not replace judges.
Delivering the valedictory reflections at the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association lecture on “The Future of Justice Delivery: Innovation, Inclusion, and Integrity” by Supreme Court of Zambia judge Justice Abha Nayar Patel, the CJI said: “Artificial Intelligence may augment judicial intelligence, without replacing the judicial conscience.”
The address traced India’s two-decade journey from paper cause lists to an integrated digital ecosystem. “Over the last two decades, our endeavour has not been to make courts more technological for their own sake. Rather, it has been to make them more accessible, more transparent, and more responsive to every stakeholder who interacts with the Justice Delivery System,” the CJI noted.
“Technology, in our understanding, is not an end in itself; it is an instrument that enables courts to fulfil their constitutional responsibility more effectively.”
Recalling everyday change, he reminisced that when he was practicing at the Bar in 1984, lawyers had to run between courtrooms to check physical cause lists.
“Today, that same information is available on the palm of our hand. A lawyer sitting anywhere in the country can access not only the cause list of virtually any court but also ascertain which matter is presently being heard, through a mobile phone, within seconds.”
The transformation, he said, was driven by the e-Courts Mission Mode Project. Electronic filing, digital case management, online records, video conferencing and virtual hearings “have become integral features of judicial administration across the country”.
He added that online mediation has made settlements “quicker, more convenient, and considerably less expensive”.
On AI, the CJI struck a note of caution. While it presents “unprecedented opportunities for improving judicial administration,” he stressed that “justice ultimately demands wisdom, empathy, and the exercise of reasoned human judgment”.
“Human oversight, judicial independence, transparency, and accountability must therefore remain at the heart of every technological innovation that we adopt,” he said.
The Chief Justice said, “Technology and human values are not competing ideals.” When responsibly deployed, technology strengthens the very values that sustain the administration of justice. “It enables courts to become more inclusive without compromising integrity, and more efficient without sacrificing fairness.”
CJI Surya Kant expressed confidence that judiciaries across jurisdictions, learning from each other, would build systems “not only more innovative, but also more accessible, more humane, and more worthy of the trust that citizens repose in them”.
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